Recomendación del día

Te recomendamos el siguiente libro titulado "Water Pollution" que explica los problemas que causa la contaminación del agua.

Water pollution

Among the many environmental problems that offend and concern us, perhaps none is as powerful and dramatic as water pollution. Ugly, scummy water full of debris, sludge, and dark foam is surely one of the strongest and most easily recognized symbols of our misuse of the environment.
What is pollution? The verb "pollute" is derived from the Latin polluere: to foul or corrupt. Our most common meaning is to make something unfit or harmful to living things, especially by the addition of waste matter or sewage. A broader definition might include any physical, biological, or chemical change in water quality that adversely affects living organisms or makes water unsuitable for desired uses.
Paradoxically, however, a change that adversely affects one organism may be advantageous to another. Nutrients that stimulate oxygen consumption by bacteria and other decomposers in a river or lake, for instance, may be lethal to fish but will stimulate a flourishing community of decomposers. Whether the quality of the water has suffered depends on your perspective. There are natural sources of water contamination, such as poison springs, oil seeps, and sedimentation from erosion, but most discussions of water pollution focus on human-caused changes that affect water quality or usability.
The most serious water pollutants in terms of human health worldwide are pathogenic organisms. Altogether, at least 25 million deaths each year are blamed on these water-related diseases, including nearly two-thirds of the mortalities of children under five years old. The main source of these pathogens is from untreated or improperly treated human wastes. In the more developed countries, sewage treatment plants and other pollution control techniques have reduced or eliminated most of the worst sources of pathogens in inland surface waters. The United Nations estimates that 90% of the people in high-income countries have adequate sewage disposal, and 95% have clean drinking water.

Cita de fuente
Cunningham, William P. "Water Pollution." Environmental Encyclopedia. Ed. Marci Bortman, Peter Brimblecombe, and Mary Ann Cunningham. 3rd ed. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 2003. 1480-1482. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 17 Oct. 2011.